Legend and now Assistant Coach, Donald “ACE” Khuse will always be remembered as one of the best players to have graced the Soweto derby. The Mohlakeng born former midfield maestro was always a headache for defenders because of his skill, superior vision and knack for scoring goals. He spoke to kaizerchiefs.com about his best derby.

ACE what memories do you have of Soweto derby?

ACE Khuse: Derbies have always been special not only for the players but supporters who travel from every corner of the country to cheer their heroes. I was honoured to play in a lot of derbies during my time. We always beat Orlando Pirates...and maybe in 1 game back in 1990 when they beat us with a big margin (Kaizerchiefs.com; Kaizer Chiefs were beaten a rare 5-1 by Orlando Pirates in that game).

They scored 3 goals and we pulled 1 back through Gardner Searle and we all thought we were going to bounce back but then they scored a fourth goal. Worse part of it all, I was the captain on the day (Smiling).

Then the tables turned as Chiefs dominated the Orlando Pirates in the early 90s...

ACE Khuse: We always wanted to beat Pirates whether it was Iwisa Spectacular, a friendly game...even the current generation always want to win against Pirates. I always had good games against them and I remember scoring the only goal in one of the games and we beat them 1-0.

I also remember a game where we beat them 2-0 with both Eric September and Doctor (Khumalo) scoring for us. We needed to win the game to be crowned champions and it was something special for all of us. We came back from 2 goals down to beat Pirates 3-2 in the Coca Cola Cup at FNB back in 1992. We had a strong team that had character to come back even if chips are down. On that day I do think though that I played my best game when we beat them 2-1 in the Castle Challenge Final back in 1991. I scored on the day and the other goal was scored by Fani Madida. I played my best football in the whole tournament scoring in all the games leading up to the final.

The vibe in the bus might be different to what we see now...

ACE Khuse: Oh yes! We had fun...we were always united and we wanted to win all the time. We had characters in the team like Doctor! He was funny and always up to something. In the bus he would tease everyone including Coaches.

We had good relationship with Coaches especially Augusto Palacious. He was a player’s Coach. He would also join in and tease players to make the atmosphere relaxed before games.

As a Coach now, how does it feel when you are driving to the Stadium knowing that you will not be doing the job but the players?

ACE Khuse: I am much more tense now than I was when I was playing. I knew that the result depended pretty much on how as individuals we perform as a team. These days I put trust on the players. I sometimes walk around to check if everyone is ok.

It is easy to pick up if a player is nervous and I will talk to them. Sometimes you will see a player very focused and I would put myself in their shoes because you do not want to put a foot wrong during the derby.

Thank you for your time and all the best on Saturday.

ACE Khuse: It is my pleasure; we are all looking forward to Saturday.